As I learned in literary criticism classes, you can certainly interpret it anyway. I would be more impressed in seeing a feminist-Marxist analysis of the poem, but a Freudian analysis is fine. It says much more about you than me. Or I just have the pure mind of an artist.

Logged

Happy shall he be, that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock. Alleluia.

Thus the stage is set. Men and their war mongering, destroying the beauty of earth and sky. Men, who cannot but indulge their wicked blood-lust. Their proclivity for violence knows no bounds. Why hooves, except to point that men are nothing but filthy animals, when not reigned in by the civilizing touch of women! Men would destroy all in their greed--for money, power and fame--if they were allowed to. There would be no escape from them. The continuous war cry of men echoes through the centuries: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," by which is meant that each man gives what he is able on the battlefield, and in return his "need" for spoils are satiated if he can manage victory. He speaks of his greed and lust as a need! How perfectly male, how perfectly bourgeois.

Quote

O, this precious life of mine;

And so the lament of the forlorn woman continues. Men cannot fathom the true potential of life. They cannot understand the glory of existence. Nothing is precious to them except their [member]. And war and greed and all that consumes them are nothing but an extension of their [member]. The neurobiologic imperative is clear: men must constantly feed the ego of their [member] or perish. But of course, it is a slow, emasculating death. And for a man, who knows neither the wonders of equality, nor the equanimity of femininity, masculinity is all that he has. Yes, it is so poor a replacement as to be laughable. So impotent, so useless; to wit: so male. It is but an empty shell compared to womynhood, comared to the fragrance of the feminine. And as the poetess points out, it is for each women--"mine"! she owns it for herself!--to take what is rightfully hers, and avenge it upon the male twenty fold. This much is clear from the line quoted. I explain all of this for the young children who may be reading this poem for the first time. But what may not be so obvious is how to understand what comes next:

Quote

For the eternal curse of thirst,

What is meant by this? She is being sarcastic! Indeed, what can "eternal curse" here be speaking of except that oppressive, inane myth of the Judeo-Christian religious power, which says that our Mother Eve fell from grace, and manipulated the man. What can be more absurd? We all know that a woman would not be so easily deceived, and that it must have been the man, Adam, who fell. Then, by physical force, and in cooperation with the other beasts of the earth (represented by the serpent), they were able to force Eve to give up her rightful place, her divine destiny. Of course this story was written by men, so it makes men out to be the victims. Men are never the victims, even when they are the ones victimized! This is enough.

Quote

Caballine nectar is divine[/i]

And so we come to the end of this passage. What can we say here? The subtlety and sophistication of the line is breath-taking. Truly it is. What man could hope to match the depth of thought and breadth of experience manifested in this line? Capitalism must yield before the honor and power of such truths. But it is better to leave the main part here unsaid. I will not cast my pearls--all our pearls!--before swine. And that men are swine is axiomatic. We must leave such conversations for when it is only the [member-less] who are present, for some dastardly male may some day get his hands on this interpretation, and if a women has condescended to teach him to read--what then? Should we parade the secrets of life before such creatures as men? No! Life may be fleeting, but the beauty of life is not so lowly as all that, to be cast out into the public arena, for any man who comes along to trample under hoof!

Thus the stage is set. Men and their war mongering, destroying the beauty of earth and sky. Men, who cannot but indulge their wicked blood-lust. Their proclivity for violence knows no bounds. Why hooves, except to point that men are nothing but filthy animals, when not reigned in by the civilizing touch of women! Men would destroy all in their greed--for money, power and fame--if they were allowed to. There would be no escape from them. The continuous war cry of men echoes through the centuries: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," by which is meant that each man gives what he is able on the battlefield, and in return his "need" for spoils are satiated if he can manage victory. He speaks of his greed and lust as a need! How perfectly male, how perfectly bourgeois.

Quote

O, this precious life of mine;

And so the lament of the forlorn woman continues. Men cannot fathom the true potential of life. They cannot understand the glory of existence. Nothing is precious to them except their [member]. And war and greed and all that consumes them are nothing but an extension of their [member]. The neurobiologic imperative is clear: men must constantly feed the ego of their [member] or perish. But of course, it is a slow, emasculating death. And for a man, who knows neither the wonders of equality, nor the equanimity of femininity, masculinity is all that he has. Yes, it is so poor a replacement as to be laughable. So impotent, so useless; to wit: so male. It is but an empty shell compared to womynhood, comared to the fragrance of the feminine. And as the poetess points out, it is for each women--"mine"! she owns it for herself!--to take what is rightfully hers, and avenge it upon the male twenty fold. This much is clear from the line quoted. I explain all of this for the young children who may be reading this poem for the first time. But what may not be so obvious is how to understand what comes next:

Quote

For the eternal curse of thirst,

What is meant by this? She is being sarcastic! Indeed, what can "eternal curse" here be speaking of except that oppressive, inane myth of the Judeo-Christian religious power, which says that our Mother Eve fell from grace, and manipulated the man. What can be more absurd? We all know that a woman would not be so easily deceived, and that it must have been the man, Adam, who fell. Then, by physical force, and in cooperation with the other beasts of the earth (represented by the serpent), they were able to force Eve to give up her rightful place, her divine destiny. Of course this story was written by men, so it makes men out to be the victims. Men are never the victims, even when they are the ones victimized! This is enough.

Quote

Caballine nectar is divine[/i]

And so we come to the end of this passage. What can we say here? The subtlety and sophistication of the line is breath-taking. Truly it is. What man could hope to match the depth of thought and breadth of experience manifested in this line? Capitalism must yield before the honor and power of such truths. But it is better to leave the main part here unsaid. I will not cast my pearls--all our pearls!--before swine. And that men are swine is axiomatic. We must leave such conversations for when it is only the [member-less] who are present, for some dastardly male may some day get his hands on this interpretation, and if a women has condescended to teach him to read--what then? Should we parade the secrets of life before such creatures as men? No! Life may be fleeting, but the beauty of life is not so lowly as all that, to be cast out into the public arena, for any man who comes along to trample under hoof!

Taking nothing at all away from your mellifluous exegesis, I have a question for you--Is it a blessing or an affliction to have too much spare time?

Logged

"May Thy Cross, O Lord, in which I seek refuge, be for me a bridge across the great river of fire. May I pass along it to the habitation of life." ~St. Ephraim the Syrian

Thus the stage is set. Men and their war mongering, destroying the beauty of earth and sky. Men, who cannot but indulge their wicked blood-lust. Their proclivity for violence knows no bounds. Why hooves, except to point that men are nothing but filthy animals, when not reigned in by the civilizing touch of women! Men would destroy all in their greed--for money, power and fame--if they were allowed to. There would be no escape from them. The continuous war cry of men echoes through the centuries: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," by which is meant that each man gives what he is able on the battlefield, and in return his "need" for spoils are satiated if he can manage victory. He speaks of his greed and lust as a need! How perfectly male, how perfectly bourgeois.

Quote

O, this precious life of mine;

And so the lament of the forlorn woman continues. Men cannot fathom the true potential of life. They cannot understand the glory of existence. Nothing is precious to them except their [member]. And war and greed and all that consumes them are nothing but an extension of their [member]. The neurobiologic imperative is clear: men must constantly feed the ego of their [member] or perish. But of course, it is a slow, emasculating death. And for a man, who knows neither the wonders of equality, nor the equanimity of femininity, masculinity is all that he has. Yes, it is so poor a replacement as to be laughable. So impotent, so useless; to wit: so male. It is but an empty shell compared to womynhood, comared to the fragrance of the feminine. And as the poetess points out, it is for each women--"mine"! she owns it for herself!--to take what is rightfully hers, and avenge it upon the male twenty fold. This much is clear from the line quoted. I explain all of this for the young children who may be reading this poem for the first time. But what may not be so obvious is how to understand what comes next:

Quote

For the eternal curse of thirst,

What is meant by this? She is being sarcastic! Indeed, what can "eternal curse" here be speaking of except that oppressive, inane myth of the Judeo-Christian religious power, which says that our Mother Eve fell from grace, and manipulated the man. What can be more absurd? We all know that a woman would not be so easily deceived, and that it must have been the man, Adam, who fell. Then, by physical force, and in cooperation with the other beasts of the earth (represented by the serpent), they were able to force Eve to give up her rightful place, her divine destiny. Of course this story was written by men, so it makes men out to be the victims. Men are never the victims, even when they are the ones victimized! This is enough.

Quote

Caballine nectar is divine[/i]

And so we come to the end of this passage. What can we say here? The subtlety and sophistication of the line is breath-taking. Truly it is. What man could hope to match the depth of thought and breadth of experience manifested in this line? Capitalism must yield before the honor and power of such truths. But it is better to leave the main part here unsaid. I will not cast my pearls--all our pearls!--before swine. And that men are swine is axiomatic. We must leave such conversations for when it is only the [member-less] who are present, for some dastardly male may some day get his hands on this interpretation, and if a women has condescended to teach him to read--what then? Should we parade the secrets of life before such creatures as men? No! Life may be fleeting, but the beauty of life is not so lowly as all that, to be cast out into the public arena, for any man who comes along to trample under hoof!

Okay, and your point...?

Logged

"If but ten of us lead a holy life, we shall kindle a fire which shall light up the entire city."

Thus the stage is set. Men and their war mongering, destroying the beauty of earth and sky. Men, who cannot but indulge their wicked blood-lust. Their proclivity for violence knows no bounds. Why hooves, except to point that men are nothing but filthy animals, when not reigned in by the civilizing touch of women! Men would destroy all in their greed--for money, power and fame--if they were allowed to. There would be no escape from them. The continuous war cry of men echoes through the centuries: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," by which is meant that each man gives what he is able on the battlefield, and in return his "need" for spoils are satiated if he can manage victory. He speaks of his greed and lust as a need! How perfectly male, how perfectly bourgeois.

Quote

O, this precious life of mine;

And so the lament of the forlorn woman continues. Men cannot fathom the true potential of life. They cannot understand the glory of existence. Nothing is precious to them except their [member]. And war and greed and all that consumes them are nothing but an extension of their [member]. The neurobiologic imperative is clear: men must constantly feed the ego of their [member] or perish. But of course, it is a slow, emasculating death. And for a man, who knows neither the wonders of equality, nor the equanimity of femininity, masculinity is all that he has. Yes, it is so poor a replacement as to be laughable. So impotent, so useless; to wit: so male. It is but an empty shell compared to womynhood, comared to the fragrance of the feminine. And as the poetess points out, it is for each women--"mine"! she owns it for herself!--to take what is rightfully hers, and avenge it upon the male twenty fold. This much is clear from the line quoted. I explain all of this for the young children who may be reading this poem for the first time. But what may not be so obvious is how to understand what comes next:

Quote

For the eternal curse of thirst,

What is meant by this? She is being sarcastic! Indeed, what can "eternal curse" here be speaking of except that oppressive, inane myth of the Judeo-Christian religious power, which says that our Mother Eve fell from grace, and manipulated the man. What can be more absurd? We all know that a woman would not be so easily deceived, and that it must have been the man, Adam, who fell. Then, by physical force, and in cooperation with the other beasts of the earth (represented by the serpent), they were able to force Eve to give up her rightful place, her divine destiny. Of course this story was written by men, so it makes men out to be the victims. Men are never the victims, even when they are the ones victimized! This is enough.

Quote

Caballine nectar is divine[/i]

And so we come to the end of this passage. What can we say here? The subtlety and sophistication of the line is breath-taking. Truly it is. What man could hope to match the depth of thought and breadth of experience manifested in this line? Capitalism must yield before the honor and power of such truths. But it is better to leave the main part here unsaid. I will not cast my pearls--all our pearls!--before swine. And that men are swine is axiomatic. We must leave such conversations for when it is only the [member-less] who are present, for some dastardly male may some day get his hands on this interpretation, and if a women has condescended to teach him to read--what then? Should we parade the secrets of life before such creatures as men? No! Life may be fleeting, but the beauty of life is not so lowly as all that, to be cast out into the public arena, for any man who comes along to trample under hoof!

Logged

Happy shall he be, that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock. Alleluia.

Taking nothing at all away from your mellifluous exegesis, I have a question for you--Is it a blessing or an affliction to have too much spare time?

Actually I wish I would have taken a few minutes to edit it before posting. Now that I reread it I see at least a half dozen obvious mistakes, including at least two or three times when I said "women" instead of "woman." Anyway...

I only expect to be taken seriously when I write something serious (it does happen every now and then, much to my enormous surprise and against all my wishes for extreme silliness). And sometimes, not even then.

Silly gerrymandered (gerrymandered?? yeah, I think you oughta look it up) threads are all part of life's great tapestry. In fact, that same tapestry is hand-made with such threads. Pick one, keep pulling on it, and you eventually get to where you are now, that is, oc.net

« Last Edit: September 04, 2013, 08:48:41 PM by J Michael »

Logged

"May Thy Cross, O Lord, in which I seek refuge, be for me a bridge across the great river of fire. May I pass along it to the habitation of life." ~St. Ephraim the Syrian

I only expect to be taken seriously when I write something serious (it does happen every now and then, much to my enormous surprise and against all my wishes for extreme silliness). And sometimes, not even then.

Silly gerrymandered (gerrymandered?? yeah, I think you oughta look it up) threads are all part of life's great tapestry. In fact, that same tapestry is hand-made with such threads. Pick one, keep pulling on it, and you eventually get to where you are now, that is, oc.net

That is, by far, the most serious and lucid post I have ever come across on this forum. Outstanding. Thank you!

Logged

Happy shall he be, that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock. Alleluia.

I would love to do an interpretation of this from my own perspective, but I don't think they'd allow it on this forum. I guess my interpretation of the second line as speaking of breasts might get a pass, but that third line? No way...

I would love to do an interpretation of this from my own perspective, but I don't think they'd allow it on this forum. I guess my interpretation of the second line as speaking of breasts might get a pass, but that third line? No way...

I...I'm afraid of your interpretation of the third line.

Logged

Happy shall he be, that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock. Alleluia.

Well if the first line sets up the scene/image/tone, and the second line is about breasts (in the middle of the body, roughly), and the third line continues the sexual theme as it relates to a woman... what would something "verdant below" the breasts signify? See where I'm going with this?

Well if the first line sets up the scene/image/tone, and the second line is about breasts (in the middle of the body, roughly), and the third line continues the sexual theme as it relates to a woman... what would something "verdant below" the breasts signify? See where I'm going with this?

Since we're going into a feminine mystique critique , I suppose it could mean lush as a field of green or green as inexperienced. But really, it's just grass and sky. Grass and sky! lolololol

Logged

Happy shall he be, that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock. Alleluia.

Tell me, what is the "endless horizon" in this context using this same critique? You say that it sets the tone for this verse (or the poem itself[it's not finished]); how so? I think that if you saw mountains as being figurative breasts, then perhaps the horizon is the whole form or body? How does one interpret the last line of this verse, with this formula?

Logged

Happy shall he be, that shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock. Alleluia.